Long-delayed oven part leaves customer steamed

Control board for Whirlpool double oven on back order

December 26, 2010|By Jon Yates | What's Your Problem?

Cara Silverman stands near her Whirlpool double oven. After waiting three months for her oven's replacement control board, Whirlpool delivered one on Monday free of charge. (Dave Shields/For The Chicago Tribune)

Promotional material for the Ultimate Toaster Oven Cookbook promises dozens of exciting recipes for busy couples, college students living in a dorm room and single men looking for an alternative to frozen meals.

Cara Silverman fits none of those categories, but when a brief power outage left her Whirlpool double oven inoperable, the Wauconda mother found herself depending on a toaster oven for weeks.

Silverman's saga began Oct. 26, when heavy winds cut her power for three hours. When electricity was restored, all of her appliances hummed back to life except her Whirlpool oven.

She called an appliance repair technician, who quickly got to the root of the problem. The power outage had somehow fried the oven's control board. All he had to do, he said, was replace the board and the oven should fire back up.

The next day, the repairman called Silverman with some unfortunate news: The control board was on back order at Whirlpool. The repairman said he was told it would be available in about two weeks.

Well, not quite.

In mid-November, Whirlpool told the repairman it could not ship the part until the end of the month.

A dejected Silverman had to scramble to make new plans.

"I had to cancel Thanksgiving," she said.

She cooked all her family's meals in either the toaster oven, her crock pot or the microwave.

It wasn't easy.

"I like to bake and this is baking season," she said. "You don't realize how often you use your oven until you don't have one."

In late November, Whirlpool told her the part would arrive Dec. 10.

Still without a functioning oven five days later, Silverman e-mailed What's Your Problem?

She said her repairman just called Whirlpool.

"They said the part's not going to be available until Jan. 28," she said. "Who can live that long without ovens?"

Silverman said she was tired of cooking chicken nuggets for her 2-year-old. Besides, another important holiday was rapidly approaching.

"I would like to have Christmas at my house," she said. "It's not life or death. We've lived off our toaster oven, but we shouldn't have to."

Problem Partner Kristin Samuelson contacted a Whirlpool spokeswoman Dec. 16 about Silverman's situation. Later that day, a Whirlpool representative called Silverman and promised to look into the matter.

On Dec. 17, the representative called Silverman and told her Whirlpool would ship the control board that afternoon via FedEx.

It arrived Monday; her repairman installed it Tuesday.

Silverman said she spoke to a Whirlpool representative and asked why the part was so difficult to come by.

"How come all of a sudden they have a board to send me after I've been calling for weeks?" Silverman said. "She didn't explain that."

Jill Saletta, director of external communications for Whirlpool Corp., said in an e-mail that her company deals with a "wide variety of suppliers."

"While we work closely with them to help ensure availability of parts, there are some occasions when parts may be unavailable or delayed," Saletta said. "While I don't have the specific reasons for the delay in this case, we're pleased it looks as though it will be fully resolved."

Silverman said she was happy to have her oven functioning again.

"But I'm still very frustrated over all the hours I put into this," she said.